Kohls Plus Amazon Equals Stock Bump

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Kohls Plus Amazon Equals Stock Bump 1

Weird story going around in market news today that Kohl’s, the American, brick-and-mortar, clothing / household goods chain has experienced a sizable stock bump over news that it will begin accepting Amazon returns at all of it’s 1,000+ locations. Say what? Traffic Equals Sales Whether you are online, or out here in the real world, when it comes to retail, traffic equals sales. For my online web properties, I earn more income, referral fees, ad sales, or commissions from sites that have more traffic. At Kohl’s, more traffic also equals more sales, and so… As you might guess, there are plenty of people who walk into a Kohl’s store with an Amazon-ordered survival knife to return, get the return setup, and walk right back out without even turning their head to look at what Kohl’s has in stock. But, you can also imagine the guy who walks in with his zombie-killing survival knife return, and notices a well-priced pair of binoculars, a pair of cargo shorts, or even a fun new top for his daughter on the way out. These sort of “drive by” buying impulses are the goal of sales, discounts, and advertising. A customer comes in to get …

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Trump, Iran, and the Markets

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The stock markets aren’t sure what to do anymore about Donald Trump. As it turns out, many of the things the market thought would be devastating (trade war with China) weren’t as big of deal as originally thought. Add to that the fact that Trump changes his mind on a regular basis for no particular reason, and you have a stock market that just sort of guesses. Big news today is that the Trump administration is pulling the waivers for countries over the Iran oil sanctions. Say what? So, Trump decided he had some sort of goal with Iran that involved oil sanctions against Iran. Typically, this is what American Presidents do when they are upset with Iran. Rather than bombing them, you cut off their ability to sell oil The catch is that the world oil market is really one big pool of suppliers and cutting any of the supply into that pool raises oil prices. Most countries, especially America, aren’t real fond of higher oil prices, so the sanction thing is sort of a double-edged sword. Enter waivers. When the Trump administration put its sanctions on Iran, they made sure to tell everyone, because that is how you …

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Tracking Receipts Expenses

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Tracking Receipts Expenses 2

Despite knowing a lot about financial planning, and being a former financial advisor, I don’t always do the right thing for myself. Just like being a great dietitian doesn’t necessarily mean that you always eat the celery instead of the nachos. Receipt Apps Reviews However, nothing turns someone into a believer quite like a pain point. Over the last month or two, I’ve gone diving into my files and boxes of receipts to find things that I remember spending money on, just not the details. For example, my car’s brakes are messed up. Didn’t I just have the brakes done last fall? Nope, that was something to do with the differential, but according to this receipt, the dentist already charged me for that mouth guard thing. Oh, wait. No. That’s the wife’s retainer thing. It’s a good thing I’m polite on the phone or I would have started off some angry phone calls only to be shut down by providers I like, and want to not be upset with me. (Funny story: I once called the credit card company about a rather large charge that I didn’t make. The very nice customer service lady couldn’t find the charge I was …

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Boeing Stock and the 737 MAX

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I’m not going to pretend to know how much of this article in the Seattle Times is correct, but if even most of the information ends up being true, then Boeing has cost itself millions (perhaps billions) of dollars in lawsuit settlements, adjustments, new guarantees, and reputation. The single Lion Air plane crashing due to the 737 MAX systems would have been bad enough, but with the data from that crash, and then a second crash having a similar issue, this is going to be devastating. When the Lion Air crash occurred the results of the analysis were that the pilots were fighting a new automated system put in by Boeing as part of its efforts to make the 737 MAX comparable in flight to the earlier 737. That way, it required no new pilot training and made it much cheaper for airlines purchase and integrate the planes into their fleet. That probably would have been a distressing, but ultimately not too impactful of event. Unfortunately, Boeing’s ham-handed handling of the aftermath may cost the company billions of dollars in legal fees, settlements, and new regulatory requirements. Ethiopia Airlines Crash After the Lion Air crash, Boeing essentially blamed the pilots. …

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Is Southwest Airlines Risking the Company?

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Is Southwest Airlines Risking the Company? 3

Is Southwest Airlines risking the entire company with its decision to keep flying the Boeing 737 MAX airplanes? Consider this: Countries around the world are grounding the Boeing 737 MAX after a second crash soon after take off killed all people aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight. This includes the European Union, Australia, China and others. Several airlines have similarly grounded their airplanes until all the data is in. Reports today conclude that the CEO of Boeing essentially talked Donald Trump out of grounding the airplanes, action that comes on the heels of large donations to Trump, and corporate visits to Mar Largo. Add this all up, and if a Boeing 737 MAX crashes in the U.S., the world’s most incompetent lawyer will be able to paint a picture of an airline that couldn’t see what numerous other countries and airlines could see. An airline that cared more about profits and using its new airplanes than it did about passenger safety. If that weren’t enough, comments that the airline is “confident” in the safety of the airlines could be considered false statements. False statements that led to deaths. This scenario couldn’t possibly be worse, and the jury verdict would undoubtably and …

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Merrill Lynch Ending

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Merrill Lynch Ending 4

Once upon a time, the name Merrill Lynch was the most recognized, and maybe most respected Wall Street name. I even worked for the financial advisors part of Merrill Lynch out of the Denver office for a few years back in my financial planner days. Then, in 2008, when the financial markets blew up, it turned out that Merrill Lynch had been selling toxic real estate securities… to itself. That, plus a lot of other damage from the Great Recession drove Merrill Lynch into the arms of Bank of America, who scooped up the company. BoA kept the Merrill Lynch name all of these years since, no doubt hoping that eventually the brand might recapture some of its cache. But, it turns out that American memories aren’t that short, and Merrill Lynch is no longer special, just another part of Wall Street. The Bank of America name actually carries just as much value, if not more. So, BoA has announced that they’ll be ditching the Merrill brand, although it will keep some of the branded financial products (and those will continue to have the trademark bull logo.)

Wrong Stock Market Predictions

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Wrong Stock Market Predictions 5

I read a lot of finance stuff. Most of the time, it’s a lot of the usual advice and tips wrapped up in new clothing. Finance and investing don’t really change that much. The exception is taxes, which change at least a little bit every year due to new tax court decisions, and the adjustments made to many tax numbers automatically each year due inflation. I keep reading about finance and investing both to keep my skills and knowledge sharp, and unfortunately, also to have some knowledge of whatever the latest finance and investing fads are. Investing for the long-term with a well diversified portfolio is the “eat less calories, burn more calories,” of finance. Everything else is a gimmick to achieve the same, while making is sound better (and easier). Tony Robbins Merchants of Doom I’m currently reading Tony Robbins’ Unshakeable. I like Robbins’ finance books. They repeat a lot of the sound financial advice that has been around for a while, often with a little more flair, and a lot more Tony. That is, Tony likes to name drop, which is fine, because he interviews some of the great minds for his books, but it’s always funny just …

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Bank Merger Signals New Phase of Economy

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bank mergers money

OK, here we go. The first big bank merger (or acquisition) since 2008 was announced today. It is significant for several reasons. Banks Are Back? As the financial industry imploded in 2008, it took the banks with them. It also exposed a lot of their shadier practices and brought out new regulations and reporting requirements. As a result, banks were in no way ready for the kind of scrutiny markets, investors, and regulators would perform if they tried to merge or acquire one another. Today, two semi-major banks are merging to become one of the big boys. BB&T and SunTrust are merging. They are going to pick a new name, though they apparently don’t know what it is. Wall Street seems to approve of the deal. Bigger Banks Better? One of the reasons given for the merger is that being a bigger bank is better. The idea is that some of the costs associated with being a modern bank make being smaller less viable. That isn’t entirely true. A small bank, serving one, or a few, states is still a completely profitable and worthwhile venture. Where banks are getting stuck is that area between small, and big. There, it can …

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United Dining Rewards Earn Airline Miles for Dining Out

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united dining rewards restaurant

In order to make it worthwhile to get airline miles without being a frequent traveler, it is important to take advantage of every mileage program bonus, special offer, deal, or coupon. For United Airlines Miles, one of the great ways to earn miles free and easy is to join the United Dining Rewards Program, which offers miles for every dollar spent eating out at restaurants. Signing up for Mileage Plus Dining is free and easy for Mileage Plus Rewards Members. Just go to the United Airlines Miles Plus website and login with your Mileage Plus Member Number. Find the link to dining rewards and click the button to sign up. The program works by allowing members to register credit card numbers with the Dining Rewards Program. Then, whenever you dine at one of the participating restaurants, you earn points on United Airlines for free just buy paying for your tab with one of the credit cards you registered. To really make this offer pay off big, use the best rewards credit cards in your wallet. Since United Dining miles are not related to your credit card account issuer or bank, you still earn your regular credit card points and credit …

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IRS Form 1040 – 2018

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postcard sized tax form

The 2018 IRS Form 1040 has been out for a while now. Unfortunately, more than a little bit of the new tax law is on shaky ground while the government is shutdown and the IRS is playing catch up with its remaining staff. That being said, it’s time to take a quick look at the 2018 Form 1040. Check out my look into Credit Karma. IRS Form 1040 Simpler – Sort Of One of the points of the new tax law was to make filing taxes easier. The supposed goal was a tax form so simple it could fit on a postcard. While the main 1040 could indeed fit on a postcard, a lot of taxpayers are going to need to add one or more “schedules” to calculate the values that go on that postcard. But, since when did a bit of reality clog up the pronouncement of politicians The 1040 Schedules The usual schedules from previous years are still here, including Schedule A if you are itemizing your deductions, Schedule C for small business owners and the self-employed, Schedule D for capital gains/losses, and so on. New Schedules making their debut so that the 1040 can be artificially small …

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